Review: Libre e-reader by Aluratek

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Like Sal noted in a previous post, manufacturers are jumping on the bandwagon with their version of an e-reader. Honestly, you can’t blame them, companies are simply trying to ride on the coat tails of Kindle’s success. Unfortunately, when that happens you get a wide range of what companies call an e-reader. Heck, some digital frame manufacturers are even producing e-readers which have the exact same screen as a digital frame, but can display PDF or text. That’s a far cry from the e-readers which use the high-quality e-paper screens which give the look of printed text.

The good news is I’m happy to report that out of the deluge of e-readers there are good ones out there that aren’t receiving publicity like the Kindle or the nook. One of those I have found is the Libre by Aluratek. Aluratek was kind enough to send me a unit to check out. Naturally, the first thing I looked for is the “paper like” screen which the Libre has. As promised on the packaging, the Libre’s 5″ display looks like real paper, but unlike paper you will probably find it difficult to fold it up and put in your pocket.

The Libre fits nicely in a reader’s hand and has a footprint which I found equivalent to a paperback book. The controls were also smartly engineered allowing for a user to quickly read pages with simple movements of your left or right hand. On the left of the Libre is a slide control which allows the reader to scroll up and down a page with their thumb. On the right of the screen are a series of numbers starting from 0 to 9 which are also noted with letters allowing for quick entry of data in fields when browsing a book or menus.

On the bottom left of the Libre are two buttons which quickly allow you to turn pages forward and back while the bottom right contains what I would call the “master controls” of the unit. These “master controls” show that Aluratek thought carefully when designing the Libre since there are a number of functional buttons in a small amount of space. The primary four buttons include the menu, font size, rotate (to support landscape) and escape buttons. Within those buttons are four directional buttons surrounding an execute or OK button.

Like any typical male I picked up the Libre and began using it before reading any instructions. I found it really easy to pick up and use thanks to the simple controls and easy to follow menus. To me, that’s important for any gadget, but even more so on a gadget which has the goal of being as easy to operate as a book.

The Libre supports a number of different e-book formats including PDF, TXT, FB2, EPUB, MOBI, PRC, and RTF. Probably an easier way to understand what books are available for the Libre is to simply browse the eBooks.com website since that is where the manufacturer encourages you to purchase them. From my perusing of the website I found that most of the popular books were there.

Some additional bells and whistles that come with the Libre include the ability to view BMP, JPG, GIF and animated GIF pictures (in black and white of course) and play MP3 music. I don’t expect many people will want to use their e-reader as an MP3 player, but some will surely appreciate the ability to listen to music in the background while they read which Aluratek has made simple with the integrated headphone jack and included headphones.

Additional specs for the Libre include an internal lithium-ion polymer battery which can power the the unit for 24 hours of continuous use or two weeks in standby mode. The addition of an auto-off feature ensures you can make the most out of every battery charge.

To store all of your books the Libre uses a SD card slot capable of supporting up to 32GB. To get you started, the e-reader comes with a 2 GB card which is already preloaded with 100 eBooks, most of which are within the public domain and include classics such as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, A Tale of Two Cities and Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Books can be transferred to the Libre by moving them to an SD card or by hooking up the reader directly to a computer using the integrated USB port.

The only downside to the Libre is that it doesn’t offer a backlight, but that is pretty common with a lot of e-readers. Also, if you think about it the goal of a good e-reader is to have a screen with the look of paper. Last time I checked, I have yet to find a book which offers a backlight for each page. Not to mention, e-reader manufacturers wouldn’t want to put book light producers out of business would they?

I whole heatedly recommend the Libre by Aluratek as a great e-reader alternative to the more popular Kindle and nook readers. Its suggested price is $179.99, but you will find it for it around $169 or lower on Amazon or other online stores. Add the fact that the unit supports firmware upgrades and comes with a one year warranty and you’d have to agree it’s a good buy.

Speak Your Mind

Bruce Trainor

I’ve had mine for a month now and have become a real fan. It has great flexibility. I use rtf mostly and keep a copy on the main computer which I can read with either of the word processors, open office or Abiword. Pdf will work the same. I download right to the card, either in the reader or the computer. The photo function is slow with large files and shows in sepia. If I was going to use an oddball photo viewer, I’d use the GPS, much quicker. I haven’t tried it with DRM files yet, but will be soon. I think that if I download to the card I should be able to remove the card and read it on another computer. Also it supports 32 gig cards. Well worth the money, I don’t care about the lack of wireless. Most of the places I go, wireless is not available anyway.

Almariemccoy

I’ve had my ebook since December 2010. I purchased a 8GB slot card and I still can not sync my ebook purchases to my device. Is the slot card too small? Please advise.